"Early Saturday morning in downtown Minneapolis, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents in full public view. Within hours, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officials released a familiar statement: an agent, they said, had acted in lawful self-defense against an armed and violent agitator. According to this narrative, Pretti instigated the violence that led to his death."
"They show Alex Pretti holding up his phone, filming as masked ICE and CBP agents shoved demonstrators and sprayed pepper spray into the crowd. They show an agent shoving a woman in the street. They show Pretti stepping forward, without striking anyone or reaching for a weapon, attempting to shield the woman from the agent's blows. They show an agent spraying Pretti directly in the face with chemical irritant."
"They show Pretti being tackled to the ground. They show six or seven agents piling on top of him, striking him while he lay immobilized. And then, they show one agent removing Pretti's licensed handgun-which he was carrying in compliance with state law -from his waistband. Then, while he remained pinned to the pavement, helpless beneath a mass of armed bodies, gunshots rang out."
Early Saturday morning in downtown Minneapolis, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents in full public view. ICE and CBP officials quickly labeled the incident lawful self-defense, claiming an agent responded to an armed, violent agitator. Multiple witness videos show Pretti filming agents, stepping forward to shield a woman without striking or reaching for a weapon, and being sprayed directly with chemical irritant. Those videos show him tackled to the ground, six or seven agents piling on and striking him while immobilized, an agent removing his licensed handgun from his waistband, and then gunshots ringing out while he remained pinned.
Read at Slate Magazine
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